FA Barclays Premiership Report (23rd - 24th October)

ANOTHER weekend with plenty of action, even if that isn’t suggested in the scorelines.  Here is a round-up of this weekend’s action, which saw victories for all of the former ‘big four’ in the Barclays Premiership.

Sunday 24^th October: Stoke City 1-2 Manchester United

WHILST Wayne Rooney was nursing his injured ankle on a £17,000 holiday in Dubai, Manchester United did their talking on the pitch, recording their first away win of the Premiership campaign.  Rooney’s replacement in the team, Javier Hernandez furthered his credentials with two more goals.  The first, on 27 minutes was a brilliant twisting header from a Nemanja Vidic knock-on.  Stoke were poor by their standards, but a glaring error from Paul Scholes allowed Tuncay to equalise with just eight minutes to play.  His wonderful curling effort was cancelled out by Hernandez’s second just four minutes later, poking home from Patrice Evra’s mishit shot.  Although Gary Neville was exceptionally fortunate to stay on the field, after two poor challenges on Matthew Etherington in his 600^th appearance for the club, United were well worthy of their three points. 

Sunday 24^th October: Manchester City 0-3 Arsenal

MANCHESTER City’s unbeaten home record was smashed up by Arsenal at Eastlands.  For the neutral, the game was ruined when youngster Dredrick Boyata was sent off after only five minutes.  The Belgian bought down Marouane Chamakh when the Moroccan was bearing down on goal, and Mark Clattenburg had no option but to dismiss him.  After that, despite City’s brave efforts, Arsenal always looked in the driving seat and took the lead in the 21^st minute, when Samir Nasri opened the scoring.  Cesc Fabregas had a penalty saved in the first half by Joe Hart, but once Alex Song smacked a second past Hart midway through the second half, the result was never in doubt.  Niklas Bendtner returned to action in the dying stages, and completed the scoring, a crisp finish from Nasri’s pass with two minutes remaining.

Saturday 23^rd October: Chelsea 2-0 Wolves

CHELSEA went five points clear again, with a 2-0 win over Wolves, though the scoreline doesn’t tell the whole story.  Florent Malouda and Salomon Kalou scored the goals, one in each half, but Petr Cech was tested on several occasions by the visitors, which will give Mick McCarthy encouragement. 

Sunday 24^th October: Liverpool 2-1 Blackburn Rovers

THIS was a marked improvement from Liverpool; they remain in the bottom three, but recorded a priceless victory over an off-colour Blackburn.  A splendid goalkeeping display from Paul Robinson kept Rovers in the match, but they fell behind to a Sotiris Krygiakos header two minutes into the second half.  Illness prevented John Henry from attending his first match as new chairman at Anfield, and if he was watching, he would be shocked by awful defending from Liverpool that led to El-Hadji Diouf’s scuffed effort being cleared off the line by Paul Konchesky, rebounded off Jamie Carragher and creeping in.  Two minutes later, Liverpool’s more urgent attacking display got its rewards, when the Rovers defence went AWOL and left Fernando Torres unguarded from Joe Cole’s cross.  Torres couldn’t miss, his goal drought is now over and hopefully, the Reds have now turned the corner.

Saturday 23^rd October: Tottenham Hotspur 1-1 Everton

EVERTON’s unbeaten run extended to four matches with an excellent point at White Hart Lane.  Left-back Leighton Baines opened the scoring for the visitors, with a cracking free-kick after Yakubu had won the decision, despite no contact from the offender, Younes Kaboul.  Three minutes later, Rafael van der Vaart equalised, after Tim Howard missed a simple punch, allowing the Dutchman a free target.  A share of the spoils was a fair result in this lunchtime duel.

Saturday 23^rd October: West Brom 2-1 Fulham

THE Baggies came out on top against Fulham in a hard-fought encounter which saw them leap into the top four for 24 hours.  Ex-Albion player Zoltan Gera gave the visitors the lead, when his quality strike fortunately went in off Scott Carson.  Diomansy Kamara hit the post shortly afterwards, but the game was turned by an equaliser from Mulumbu for West Brom.  A debatable winner came from Marc-Antoine Fortune, who looked offside before half-time.  It is West Brom’s best start in Premiership history, whilst a second successive defeat for Mark Hughes’s men slips them into the bottom five.

Saturday 23^rd October: Sunderland 1-0 Aston Villa

SUNDERLAND moved into seventh place, but they got a massive slice of fortune off Aston Villa and Richard Dunne.  Dunne’s shocking attempted clearance ended up beating Brad Friedel from Steed Malbranque’s dangerous cross.  It was a daft misjudgement, Dunne’s 8^th own goal in Premiership history – which is the most by any player.  Stewart Downing, Emile Heskey and Marc Albrighton all went close for the visitors, whose poor away form continues, their fourth defeat in five games.

Saturday 23^rd October: West Ham United 1-2 Newcastle United

ON A week when Andy Carroll was bailed after a nightclub assault, he bailed the Magpies out of trouble with victory at Upton Park.  Carlton Cole opened the scoring with his first of the season from Frederic Piquionne’s cross.  Carroll’s new landlord Kevin Nolan equalised, after Joey Barton’s ball was missed by Carroll.  Carroll wrapped the points up in the second half, with a diving header, his first goal in two months.  A miserable David Sullivan could only look on as West Ham remain at the foot of the table.

Saturday 23^rd October: Birmingham City 2-0 Blackpool

BIRMINGHAM recorded only their second win of the Premiership season, but got a big slice of luck against Blackpool.  Ian Holloway, who had a strong viewpoint on the Wayne Rooney situation in midweek, was cursing the fact that Liam Ridgewell handled in his own penalty area.  Before half-time, the guilty party put the Blues infront with a very scrappy opener.  A rare mistake by Blackpool captain allowed Nikola Zigic to finish the match off and move Birmingham away from danger.

Saturday 23^rd October: Wigan Athletic 1-1 Bolton Wanderers

FOUR games unbeaten now for Wigan Athletic, though better defending could have given them a priceless win.  The match was overshadowed by a reckless challenge from Fabrice Muamba on James McCarthy.  It left McCarthy with a broken ankle.  Hugo Rodallega opened the scoring, before Johan Elmander equalised after a Matt Taylor cross wasn’t cleared away by Antolin Alcaraz.